Things to do in Sydney this weekend

Commune is the epicentre for inclusive, community-building creativity in Waterloo, but they’re also practiced party starters. They’re throwing another fabulous celebration in their expansive warehouse, this time with a colourful twist of nostalgic. ‘Take it Back’ will have a heavy dance focus and a retro theme. There’ll be a dedicated disco hall pumping ’90s bangas, a joyful dance workout with the Jungle Body and an old-school jazzercise class with renowned Sydney choreographer Cassandra Merwood – she’s the mover who helped develop Haiku Hands’ splendid synchronisation and the grooves of other artists including Hermitude, Sayah and Guy Sebastian. Make sure you maintain some energy reserves for a sparkling session of drag yoga with Dusty Glass, before you stretch your mind muscles at TEDxHaymarket. Commune regularly includes riveting talks and discussion in their events, and this time they’re promising a panel discussion about ‘opening the fun in Sydney’. You can also keep busy with workshops in life drawing, making Boomerang Bags and more. It’s a lot of action in one night, but luckily there’ll be a host of snacks and drinks to help you make the most of it. Southern Soul will take your favourite fried classics from America’s south and transform them into a plant-based feast (their vegan mac’n’cheese is legendary), while the 2 Boys in Saris food truck pump out authentic South Asian dishes. After all that spicy goodness, you’ll be grateful for a sweet frozen treat from Ove

The City of Sydney is providing 1,000 free trees to local residents to help make the city and surrounding suburbs a leafier place to live. Pick up your tree, enjoy a sausage sizzle and chat to horticulturally-informed staff for advice on how to plant your trees and ensure that they prosper. You can choose from 24 varieties to suit your home, from native to exotic species and a range assorted citrus trees. Bigger leaf boys include jacarandas, cheese trees (no, not cheddar) and water gums. Littler flowing fellas include bottle brush, hibiscus and gardenias. Staff will be at Sydney Park from 10am until all trees have been given away. You need to be a City of Sydney resident to be eligible for this forest of freebies, so don’t forget to bring your ID to prove your current address. To score free foliage, you’ll need to live in one of the following suburbs: Alexandria, Annandale, Barangaroo, Beaconsfield, Camperdown, Centennial Park, Chippendale, Darlinghurst, Darlington, Dawes Point, Elizabeth Bay, Erskineville, Eveleigh, Forest Lodge, Glebe, Haymarket, Millers Point, Moore Park, Newtown, Paddington, Potts Point, Pyrmont, Redfern, Rosebery, Rushcutters Bay, St Peters, Surry Hills, Sydney, the Rocks, Ultimo, Waterloo, Woolloomooloo and Zetland.

Each year, cities around the world switch off their lights to advocate for climate change action during Earth Hour. Much of Sydney will be powering down on March 30, and you can make the most of the black out by heading to this evening of talks and stargazing at the Sydney Observatory. It’ll be a fabulous opportunity to peer through their powerful telescopes and gaze at the constellations, as there will be minimal light pollution from the humans below. In addition to seeking out stars, you’ll also hear from environmental experts in a series of climate talks, and be able to take part in some family-friendly activities. The evening will kick off at 7.30pm, with the Observatory and the rest of Sydney’s Earth Hour participants going dark at 8.30pm.

Whether your regular Thai dish is an extra hot tom yum goong or a more mellow pad see ew, you won’t regret a day spent at the food stalls and produce markets of the Thailand Grand Festival. This cultural celebration is bringing a little bit of Bangkok attitude to Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour for two massive days of feasting, shopping and traditional Thai performances. Alongside the mobile kitchens dishing out perfectly charred noodles, fragrant curries and spicy-sour soups, there’ll also be a pop-up Thai supermarket, where you can pick up produce to recreate the dishes at home, as well as a bar serving refreshing Thai beers. The Thai dancers and other live performers will keep you entertained throughout your eating adventure, and there will even be a marquee where Thai masseuses will pummel out all your knots. Got hungry kiddos? Stuff them with pad Thai and send them to the kids’ zone to play while you shop at Thai craft stalls or learn how to wield spices at the Thai cooking demonstrations.

Whether you’re a lone sprinter or a family of eagre amblers, you’ll want to add this new event to your fun run calendar. The aim of the day is to slog around a 12km course or a 4km family run (or walk), but the big day of celebrations at RunWest offers much more than workout. You start the day partying with each course kicking off at a fun-filled start zone. Those tackling the longer course will get their engines raring at 7am at Sydney Motorsport Park among the car racing displays, before jogging along a route that’ll take them past the new Sydney Zoo, through Western Sydney Parklands and to the huge finish line party at West HQ. Families will start at 10am at Blacktown International Sports Park, where kids can climb an obstacle course and meet sports stars before the walk kicks off. Both events are for all ages and are wheelchair accessible, so feel free to take whichever course matches your fitness levels. Registration fees for the runs will support RunWest’s chosen charities, and you can choose to raise more funds for any charitable group through fundraising page. It sounds like a great way to spend a day, but we’re also pretty excited about the party that’s happening after the sweaty laps. Competitors and the general public are all invited to the finish line party, which offers recovery areas and post-race eats from fancy food trucks alongside live music, kids’ entertainment and meet-and-greets with local soccer, rugby, AFL and cricket stars. Entry to the party is if

Waverton’s new waterfront venue, the Coal Loader, is a superb spot for a sun soaked afternoon of relaxation. To take advantage of the glorious sunset before the world shuts off their lights for Earth Hour on March 30, they’re inviting Sydneysiders to an afternoon picnic. The family-friendly soirée on the rooftop lawn will kick off at 4pm with live music, interactive performances, kids' activities, food stalls and a pop-up bar. But the star of the show will be the tour of the night sky, led by Aboriginal Elder and artist Colin Walangari Karntawarra McCormack and astronomer Bob Fuller from 8.30pm. There will be some telescopes available on the night, but feel free to bring your own sky-searching machines for an investigation of the constellations and their relevance to Indigenous culture. Scouring the skies for this hour will be particularly illuminating, as the Coal Loader and many other Sydney businesses will be switching their lights off in support of the environmental awareness mission of Earth Hour. So, hopefully, you’ll be seeing the stars at their brightest with a little less light pollution.

There’s some amazing meals coming out of the kitchens in Sydney’s Western Suburbs, and Liverpool is a unique home to splendid international cuisine spanning Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Southeast Asian cultures. Now you can try them all in one big evening celebrating how food brings us all together at Liverpool on a Roll. This new food festival will set up the grills and fryers in Greenway Park and the first diners can expect a caravan of food stalls offering tasty meals all served on bread – think burgers, bánh mì and burritos. The edible line-up won’t feature a single dish above $12, making deliciousness achievable on a budget. The purveyors include Bun Me Baguette, who will have rice paper rolls and bready buns brimming with crisp pork and spicy stir fry; Black Elk Espresso who’ll put eggs benedict on rolls beside beef burgers; and Bellbird Dining and Bar with Pan-Asian bao creations like pork belly and kimchi, or enoki mushrooms with green chimichurri. There will be live entertainment to go with dinner, with highlights including Chipping Norton local Brigida Pirolo delivering big funk and soul sounds, and artist Clarissa Mei who played at Secret Garden festival in 2018. A pop-up beer garden will be dishing out brews, and the festival is also promising garden games as well as seasonal fresh produce for sale. It’s set for March 30, and with an autumnal breeze blowing by then, it’ll be dinner under the stars as the festival kicks off at 5pm.

Has the daily grind got you down? This day of talks by artists and business folk chasing their professional dreams is sure to refuel your reserves of creative energy and inspire you to take more bold steps towards your goals. The Self Expression Assembly will see speakers from splendidly diverse fields share their stories of entrepreneurial triumph. The line-up includes Shannon Dooley, the founder of Sydney’s favourite old-school dance class Retrosweat Aerobics, who will share how she combined her passion for timeless pop music, vintage fashion and mental and physical health to create a workout phenomenon; queer performer, writer and director Bj will discuss his works which explore toxic masculinity; and Kris Deminick will explain how she traded in a high-flying executive career to become a life coach and writer. There’ll be a Q&A section where speakers will answer questions about their own experiences, and speak to more general misgivings about uprooting the mundane and making positive change.

Set up your picnic rug, grab a free mocktail (BYO cup) and see Lilyfield's Greenway in a new light. Inner West Council is putting on a free festival to show off the vibrant culture and imagination of the area on March 30. And you’ll find it all on and around the Lilyfield Pedestrian Bridge. The Greenway is a 5.8km pedestrian and cycle corridor running from Earlwood to the Parramatta River at Iron Cove and is home to many bush critters (who might come out to join the festivities when the sun goes down).  The unique history of this place is at the fore during the festival, with plenty of activities and workshops to help you explore the surroundings. There are seven sensory eco zones for the whole family to wander through, or you can check out everything from lantern making to natural wearable art, bush care to edible weeds. That’s right, on the day, ‘weed wizard’ Diego Bonetto will help you know your tucker from your toxins. If foraging in the weeds isn’t your thing, artists including Jason Wing (Between Two Worlds) and Crank Zappa (Jellyfish) will have pieces installed for you to wander around. Other highlights from the program include an Indigenous foraging and fishing talk with Gadigal Wangal elders and a lantern walk at sunset to celebrate Earth Hour, finishing with an outdoor aerial performance from theatre company Legs on the Wall.  If you forget your packed lunch, there will be food trucks and an onsite bar to keep you exploring well into the night. Worried about park